XxSlasherMcGirkxX
Member
What is it?
Ouendan is a kick ass music rhythm game developed by iNiS and published by Nintendo on the Nintendo DS. They are quick and fun games that any skilled player of any age can get into and appreciate. Even if you don't like the music in the games, the game is immensely fun and endearing in it's own rights. This series really got me to appreciate the music rhythm genre and music in general sense. Even though two of the three games in the series are only in Japan, this series is one of the easiest import friendly games ever made. Easy to navigate and play and very easy to understand the story and whats going on. I love how very many elements, themes and characters are repeated throughout the series even if the titles are very different and the small details are amazing. I have spent countless hours playing all the games on all the difficulties. I am in a bit of a slump of new games to play for a bit so even though the real anniversary isn't until July I thought I would play them again now.
What is the gameplay like?
Each stage has a given scenario with a story introduction that puts a person in a predicament in which the person is overcome with grief and cries for help. The Ouendan or the Agents arrive to help cheer the person on to give them a boost to help them overcome their obstacle. Stages are broken up into sections of gameplay and story progression. Doing good in a song rewards you with positive results in the current situation. However doing bad will have negative effects in the story. Then in the end you will receive a good or bad end depending on how you did. The beats that you tap along to in the song are always connected by an instrument or vocal counterpart. Beats never feel out of place or off if you know what to listen to.
Gameplay is extremely simple. Numbered circles will appear and you have to hit the note in the correct order as the outer rim of the circle reaches the number.
There are three types of notes in the game with hit markers being the most common. Points range from a perfect hit of 300, hit of 100 and a near miss of 50.
Hit Markers Numbered circles that must be tapped in sequence in time with the music.
Phrase Markers Markers with tracks extending from them. The player must trace the stylus in time with a ball rolling on the track and may be required to move back and forth across the track several times.
Spin Markers A spinner that the player must rotate quickly until bars along the sides of the screen are filled. The speed at which they must be spun depends on the tempo of the music and difficulty of the song. If the player has time to continue spinning the marker after filling the gauge, bonus points are awarded for each continued rotation. The positions of Spin Markers are constant across all difficulty levels.
and thats it.
The Games
Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan Release date: July 28th JPN only
The first game in the series. The title roughly translates to Yeah! Fight! Cheer Squad! Ouendan is a very Japenese title. All of the music is Japenese and a lot of the style is very heavy on Japanese culture. Meaning that this game had a zero chance of being localized on a 1 to 1 scale if at all. I don't think it was ever intended to leave Japan.
Anyway the game is about a hidden fiery cheer squad that helps random people in their problems. Yeah thats right male cheer leaders. Do you see the localization appeal yet?
The game has 15 scenarios in total. There are four difficulties in total. The first two are unlocked at the start. Each difficulty has a different character and two back up dancers to accompany them. Easy has a novice guy, Normal has a fiery redheaded go getter, Hard has the Chief Leader and Insane actually has female cheerleaders. The games have a small overworld that gradually unlocks more stories as you progress through the game.
The song list
riginal artists. The following track list is organized by the original artist, name of the song, and cover artist.
Asian Kung-Fu Generation – "Loop & Loop" (ループ&ループ Rūpu & Rūpu?) (by Kyōya Asada)
Morning Musume – "Koi no Dance Site" (恋のダンスサイト Koi no Dansu Saito?, literally "Love's Dance site") (by Kaoru Kubota, Fumio Kobayashi, Yūko Yajima, Mari Nabatame, and Akina Okabayashi)
Ulfuls – "Guts da ze!!" (ガッツだぜ!! Gattsu da ze!!?, literally "It's guts!!") (by Hiroaki Takeuchi)
175R – "Melody" (メロディー Merodī?)
The Blue Hearts – "Linda Linda" (リンダ リンダ Rinda Rinda?) (by Daisaku Shimada of Bevenuts)
nobodyknows+ – "Kokoro Odoru" (ココロオドル?, literally "The heart dances") (by Bugashman, Cantaman, Moss, Mouse-P, and Sausen)
B'z – "Atsuki Kodō no Hate" (熱き鼓動の果て?, literally "A hot heartbeat's limit") (by Tetsushi Kimura)
Tomoyasu Hotei – "Thrill" (スリル Suriru?) (by Hiroaki Takeuchi)
Road of Major – "Taisetsu na Mono" (大切なもの?, literally "Something important") (by NoB)
Linda Yamamoto – "Neraiuchi" (狙いうち?, literally "Shooting") (by Kaoru Kubota)
Kishidan – "One Night Carnival" (by Kei Imai of South 2 Camp)
Hitomi Yaida – "Over the Distance" (by Ayako Kawajima)
The Yellow Monkey – "Taiyō ga Moeteiru" (太陽が燃えている?, literally "The sun is burning") (by Mitsuru Yanagisako)
Orange Range – "Shanghai Honey" (上海ハニー Shanhai Hanī?) (by Bugashman, Cantaman, Moss, Mouse-P, Sausen, mimi, and Akasanajar)
L'Arc-en-Ciel – "Ready Steady Go" (by Tetsushi Kimura)
Fun Fact: Yano the games delveloper displayed an unused Ouendan stage from a prototype build that featured a puppy in danger. The stage concept was ultimately dropped from the final version of the game because the puppy died if the player failed the stage.
Elite Beat Agents Release date: US Nov 2006 and EU May 2007
Due to high import sales for the time of Ouendan, Nintendo wanted to bring out a title with similar gameplay as they believed that it had worldwide appeal. Because Ouendan was way too Japanese they couldn't just bring it over so they decided to create a brand new game that focused on the Westren market. So cheer squads were replaced with blues brothers style secret agents. Many of themes and styles of the first game where kept but with more of a westren style attached to it, making it feel very much like the first game.
Gameplay was identical to the first game with new songs added and other improvements. The track list was boosted to 19 songs.
The list includes
Steriogram - "Walkie Talkie Man" (by Jason Paige)
Sum 41 - "Makes No Difference" (by Vinn Lombardo)
Avril Lavigne - "Sk8er Boi" (by Angela Michael)
Freddie Mercury/Queen - "I Was Born to Love You" (by Paul Vician)
Stray Cats - "Rock This Town" (by Mark Latham)
Deep Purple - "Highway Star" (by Kaleb James)
Village People - "Y.M.C.A." (by TC Moses)
Earth, Wind and Fire - "September" (by TC Moses)
Jamiroquai - "Canned Heat" (by Jason Paige)
Madonna - "Material Girl" (by Melissa Garber)
Ashlee Simpson - "La La" (by Laura Jane)
Chicago - "You're the Inspiration" (by Julian Miranda)
David Bowie - "Let's Dance" (by Delaney Wolff)
Good Charlotte - "The Anthem" (by Kevin Ridel)
Hoobastank - "Without a Fight" (by Kevin Ridel)
The Rolling Stones - "Jumpin' Jack Flash" (by Billy Fogarty)
The following three songs are unlockable within the course of the game by achieving cumulative high scores across all difficulty levels and stages. As certain high score totals are reached, the player will move up in rank, and by achieving certain ranks, a bonus stage and song is unlocked. If cleared on a lower difficulty, these bonus stages become normal stages on higher difficulties. In the order in which they are unlocked, they are:
Cher - "Believe" (by Lynn Rose)
The Jackson 5 - "ABC" (by TC Moses and Brittany Kertesz)
Destiny's Child - "Survivor" (by April Harmony)
Also a new feature that was added to EBA was multiplayer. Up to four players can compete against each other using the wireless capabilities of the Nintendo DS using one or more copies of the game with 2-4 Nintendo DS consoles. The same song list is used, but the stage is set using one of five predetermined, competition-based scenarios.
Only songs that the "host" player has completed are available for play. Each player attempts to perform the song in the same manner as the single player mode. There is no Elite-O-Meter, but instead, the cumulative performance of each player is tracked during the game. At the normal break points for the song, the scene depicts which player is ahead, though it is possible for both players to be tied at this point. During the song, each player can fill a star meter by completing Elite Beats; when the star meter is full, the screens of the opposing players will shake for a few moments, and the on-screen markers will be reduced in size for a short time, making them more difficult to hit. The winner is the player with the best cumulative performance at the end of the song.
When utilizing single-card multiplayer, only five songs are available on "Cruisin'" and "Breezin'" difficulties. When all players have a copy of the game, all of the songs and difficulty levels become available, but each scenario is still assigned to a certain song.
This mode can also be played by a single player against a saved replay for any song.
There is also a cooperative mode, in which players take turns to play. Each user must have a copy of the game to do this. Each song uses the same scenarios as the single player game, but only the stages the host has completed in single player are available. Both players share a single Elite-O-Meter, so if one person fails, the game ends for both players. The players take turns playing certain segments of the song, as well as Spin Markers. When it is not the player's turn to play, the markers are grayed out.
Other improvements where a better stat screen, replays and (a god send to Ouendan1 players) a much improved story segment skip.
Fun Facts:
-The Elite Beat Agents in this game appear in Super Smash Bros. Brawl as a trophy, and they also are on a few stickers. Characters from Ouendan also appear as stickers and a trophy.
-Listed under the Touch Generations label in NA.
-Reggie Fils-Aime has stated that this is his favorite Nintendo game at one point of time
-Only in EBA the agents have specific dance routines per song as opposed to the Cheer Squad having only set dance moves.
Sad Facts:
Upon release, Elite Beat Agents was critically acclaimed, receiving an average score of 87.7% on GameRankings. From the date of its release to November 28, 2006, Agents sold 120,000 copies. Reggie Fils-Aime has stated that while sales were strong, he was disappointed that they were not better, having expected 300,000 copies sold in light of critical acclaim. He has also stated that he hopes that Nintendo can work with iNiS on a sequel.Only 179,000 copies of the game have been sold in North America by January 2009.
Moero! Nekketsu Rhythm Damashii:
Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan 2 Release Date May 17 2007 JPN only
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Title roughly translates to "Let's Go! Hot-Blooded Rhythm Spirit: Yeah! Fight! Cheer Squad 2" Set six years after Ouendan 1. The orginal cast returns to continue helping people with their problems until they discover a rival gang doing their job!? The game continues with the same gameplay as previous titles with the improvements made from EBA and a graphical overhaul. Now with twice the amount of characters! Both new and old. This game also has 19 tracks in it as well.
Track list
Sukima Switch - "Zenryoku Shōnen" (全力少年?, literally "Full-powered Boy")
Kaela Kimura - "Rirura Riruha" (リルラ リルハ?, an abbreviation of "Real Life Real Heart")
FLOW - "Okuru Kotoba" (贈る言葉?, literally "Words to Give You")
Ken Hirai - "Pop Star"
Hitomi Yaida - "Go My Way"
The Checkers - "Julia ni Heartbreak" (ジュリアに傷心 Juria ni Shōshin?, literally "Heartbroken for Julia")
Going Under Ground - "VISTA"
Home Made Kazoku - "Shōnen Heart" (少年ハート Shōnen Hāto?, literally "Boyish Heart")
mihimaru GT - "Kibun Jōjō ↑↑" (気分上々↑↑?, literally "Best Feeling")
Tomoyasu Hotei - "Bambina" (バンビーナ Banbīna?)
SMAP - "Bang! Bang! Vacances!" (BANG! BANG! バカンス! BANG! BANG! Bakansu!?, "vacances" being the French word for "vacation")
Ai - "Believe"
Kishidan - "Zoku" (族?, literally "Family")
Porno Graffitti - "Music Hour" (ミュージック・アワー Myūjikku Awā?)
HYDE - "Countdown"
Sambomaster - "Sekai wa Sore o Ai to Yobundaze" (世界はそれを愛と呼ぶんだぜ?, literally "That's What the World Calls Love!")
Monkey Magic
Glamorous Sky
Samurai Blue
Additional improvements made are more replay saves, easier easy difficulty, gallery and improved multiplayer. Also added was Invisible mode. Only for the true sadists out there. The note detection is invisible and only numbers appear. You can only know when to hit it by listening to the music. The must die mode of rhythm games.
Fun Facts: After release Nintendo had a limited run of Nintendo DS download stations that let Ouendan 2 players download extra characters to play as which included the entire cast of Elite Beat Agents.
Extra Non Canon Unofficial but should be mentioned Osu!
A spin off rhythm game created by fans that is heavily inspired by Ouendan and Elite Beat Agents. A custom create your own beatmaps and community driven style of game that uses the gameplay of Ouendan. It has been ported to PC and many phones and tablets.
Fun Stuff
Wallpapers:
Ouendan 1 http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2...endan_wallpaper_by_satanicseagull-d3h6ok6.jpg
Ouendan 2 http://www.thebbps.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/ouendan-4.jpg
EBA http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs44/f/2009/126/c/d/Elite_Beat_Agents_Background_by_Firebird970.jpg
Cool:
Phoenix Wright and EBA Osu Song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYHCceCQnj8
Ouendan Live Preformance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-qYmvZiuH4
Ouendan 2 FINAL STAGE S RANK score 9999999 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFq2U7iFe-s
